Arsenal Ladies star Kim Little gunning for glory in Continental Cup

Arsenal Ladies will look to secure their third FA Women’s Super League Continental Cup triumph with a victory over Lincoln Ladies tonight.

Standard Sport caught up with the Gunners’ Scottish international midfielder Kim Little ahead of the crunch clash.

Arsenal have won the FA Women’s Super League Continental Cup twice in the last three years. Do you believe that you can get past Lincoln – the only side you have failed to beat this season – to win it again?

Our record isn’t great against Lincoln, as we’ve drawn three games against them this season, and we want to put it right. It was disappointing not to win then because I felt we had lots of chances. We need to be more clinical and also break through the defence with our passing, but they have a great goalkeeper so it will be difficult.

You were voted by your fellow professionals as last season's Player of the Year and have already achieved so much at just 23 years of age. Do you feel there is more to come from you having performed at such a high level already?

Being the first one to pick up the award and to be recognised for my achievements, it was great for me. I hope I can keep improving, I want to work hard for the team and try to improve, but I’m still young and have a lot of time to do that.

You’ve got 84 caps for your country, Scotland, and have scored 30 goals in that time. Along with playing for Great Britain, describe for us the feeling you get when representing your nation.

It’s a very special feeling to play for your country, and I feel proud to be able to represent my country. It’s great to be involved with Scotland because when you play for your nation you have to be a role model to the younger girls and boys and the players carry a responsibility to do that.

Lincoln’s defenders are likely to provide a stern test for the likes of yourself and Jordan Nobbs, as proved with the 0-0 draw last month. Are you confident the team can score the required amount of goals to win the game tomorrow?

Yeah, I think so. Last time they played mostly on the break and we have dominated all three games. I think it’s important not to concede and leave the game too open because they are good on the counter-attack. But if we turn our chances into goal, I’m sure we can hold onto our lead.

With the disappointment of missing out on the Women’s Super League title to Liverpool, how crucial is winning the Continental Cup in a bid to claim some silverware?

We want to win any cup that we are involved in and so of course we are disappointed that we couldn’t win the league. But we want to make it up to ourselves and the fans by getting victory tomorrow.

The team secured a narrow 2-1 victory over Everton last Friday – is it your belief that the team can carry confidence from that victory into tomorrow’s game?

I think so. We’ve not lost domestically this season [18 games unbeaten] and I think after going behind, the win against Everton showed we have character. We go into every game thinking that we need to win and we’re confident that on our day, we can beat anyone.

When you were presented with the opportunity to represent Continental Tyres as their ambassador, what were your feelings about trying to influence the game for girls aged 5-17? Is there currently enough participation at grassroots level, when you consider women’s presence in Tennis, Athletics and other sports?

We have the responsibility of being role models to the children and we want to inspire them, so this is a good way of doing that. Our aim is to promote the women’s game and being an ambassador for Continental allows me to contribute to it. As for participation, there are certainly lots of opportunities.

Why do you think it is important that girls get involved with football at a young age? Do you feel there are enough opportunities available for them to do so?

I played football with boys up until the age of 12, at which point I had to change due to the physical differences, and it’s important for girls to get involved and explore things they want to do such as football. It’s mostly England who are progressing quickly with the interaction with young girls and the game has really progressed over here. In Scotland, it’s not quite to that level yet but I’ve seen many great things in the youth structure.

Is it important for you as a successful figure in the women’s game to share your experiences with the younger generation in an attempt to get them involved? Do you feel like you’re making a contribution?

Through Arsenal, we get involved in the soccer schools and I personally do some coaching with the younger kids. Some of the girls in the team actually run their own coaching classes and I think it’s key to contributing and promoting the game.

With levels of participation increasing year by year and coverage beginning to expand, where do you the see the women’s game in 10 years’ time?

I think there will be a lot more TV coverage than there currently is, although the level of coverage at present is great for the progression of women’s football. For us footballers, ideally we would like to see the clubs work towards becoming full-time and professional. Improvements have been made with the standard of the game already and I think that’s down to the increase in quality through the youth systems.